No Floating Boats at the Taling Chan Floating Market

On the Saturday morning I visited one of the floating markets that are around Bangkok. As it was a first shot I decided to go for the closest one that can be easily reached by public transportation (air-co bus). I did enjoy the trip, but it wasn’t not something that I expected from a thing called floating market.

I had imagined it as a kind of moving street food market with both vendors and buyers sitting on floating long-tail boats. Instead, I got a regular food market situated by the canal with a few Thai vendors on boats only. It was nice though. There were no pushy and iritaiting vendors who would just wait for tourists who fell for their scams. It was a peaceful area where you can enjoy a fresh meal on the river bank.

It is also possible to take a 3-hour boat tour that takes you to some other floating markets and also to a small temple. However, the boats leave early in the morning, so we’re definitely too late for that.

If you’re in Bangkok for a couple of days and you want to see the floating market, probably better option is to go a bit further and experience something more genuine. However, I did enjoy my time there. It is a lovely place to chill out with mates and experience calm, slow Thai life. Also it is a perfect destination if you’re already fed up with noisy Bangkok.

How to get to Taling Chan floating market?

You can take a bus numer 79 from the Ratchadamnoen Road (close to Khao San Rd.). You should head towards the other side of the river. You can also use Google Maps to check other stops of 79 bus. The bus is 13 baht ($0.40) and it takes approximately 30-40 minutes to get to the market. The taxi will probably cost you around 100-150 baht max ($2.5-3.5).

There are many more floating markets around Bangkoko. Can’t wait to visit the “real” one!